“In my mind, I’m just looking, for myself, I just don’t feel like I’ve fought my best fight in the UFC yet,” said Alvarez. “I feel like I’m having a moment now where I want to say that I’m not giving a f**k and I feel like the less I give a f**k, the better I fight. I think I cared a bit too much, even in my title fight which I won, I just cared a little bit too much and I didn’t risk enough. I just want to approach the game where I really just don’t give a f**k. I think I fight better that way. I think when I entered the UFC [I started caring too much]. There was a big thing, could I compete with the best guys in the world? Could I compete with the guys in the UFC? There was that whole stigma that the guys from the smaller promotions couldn’t hang with the best guys in the UFC so I just let my surroundings and the things I was hearing affect the way I was fighting. It made me focus more on winning than on being me. I was so worried about winning and proving people wrong that I could win the UFC world title, [but] when you get focused too much on winning I don’t feel like you’re able to be your total self. I do better when I care less. Any fans tuning in, my preparation purely for this fight, if I’m working anything every day, really hard, I’m working on just not giving a f**k so you might want to tune in for this fight,” Alvarez said on MMA Tonight.

Alvarez is fighting for the first time since his controversial no contest against Dustin Poirier at UFC 211.

The former champion knows he needs at win at UFC 218, but he has a lot of respect for his upcoming opponent.

“I respect the guy. He trains hard, he has a good strong mind, and he’s undefeated. . . He reminds me a bit of myself when I first started and I felt like I was unbeatable. I felt [that way] until I met that one guy. A lot of the things that he does and the way he approaches the game is a lot like myself and he’s just waiting in a couple months to meet that guy,” says Alvarez.

UFC 218 takes place on Saturday, December 2 from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan with Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.